RECAP
The group, exhausted and beaten down, managed to rest through the night and late into the following morning at the farmhouse. We were given breakfast, prayed for a strategic spell list among Clerics, reached out to Vechi telepathically to set a rendezvous point, then made our way toward a logging town about 6 hours away that was only a few hours out from the Great Wall of Melg. In order to speed up our trip, we bought a horse from Lohren and Oz cast Make Whole on Jessie's wagon to repair it. In preparation, Taye also sent a mental message to one of the Emperor's aides letting him know where we were heading and he said he'd send Orcs to meet us and guide us into the Empire safely.
We eventually met up with Vechi on the way and managed to make it to the town, but not before noticing a wolf-dog following us and unnatural clouds rolling in from behind us that eventually overtook us as we reached the front entrance. We were met with mild hesitation due to our strange appearances, but ultimately let in and allowed to stay at a lodge in town along with our animal companions who rested outside the lodge. We thanked our hosts and proceeded to set up watch for the night. Oz and Akrah took first watch. It wasn't long into our watch before the entire lodge was suddenly filled with cold and a sense of dread. Akrah, in her usual "subtle" manner, began screaming and making lots of noise to wake the group. Once awoken, we were faced with a group of shadows that attacked us on sight. Immediately, Oz was struck with negative energy and nearly paralyzed by strength loss. Akrah went on the offensive, but was met with difficulty trying to connect with the shadows. Another wave of dread struck us all and Oz was laid out due to strength loss. At that point, the rest of the group joined the fight. Gareth tumbled into battle with short sword and flaming log from the fireplace in hand, Taye hid and prepared what mental defenses he could, and the rest readied spells and weapons. Vechi made his way over to Oz and restored just enough strength for Oz to stand back up. This gave Oz the opportunity to turn undead, successfully causing four of six shadows to flee. Yoshi then cast daylight allowing the group to clearly see the shadows and eliminating their cover of night. With visibility restored, the group started landing blows and Taye released a psychic blast that mentally notified the entire town of the assault. We eventually defeated the final two shadows and later met with the town Cleric, a worshipper of Arsur'Anyodel, who confirmed no others were injured in the attack. Oz prayed for Lesser Restoration spells and proceeded to restore strength to all who lost it. We finished resting and set out the next morning for Melg after eating breakfast. We again met with the Cleric before leaving and said our goodbyes.
On our journey to Melg, we noticed more unnatural clouds forming so we travelled with haste to our destination. We came across a temple town just outside the wall, but decided to keep travelling after we were told the inhabitants might not be too welcoming of our menagerie. We walked a little further and eventually reached the wall. We decided to travel along it until we reached a proper entrance and finally met an open door leading to a waypoint where we could go to several destinations within the Empire. We headed toward Melg and pressed on. Of particular note, it was around this time that we all noticed our waterskins containing the Cleric's blood were popped and all the blood was lost. Only Akrah retained a complete blood sample, so she tucked it away safely and continued travelling. Since there's still dried blood on the busted pouches, we all kept them on the off chance the Orcs can still use that in their research.
After getting within two or three hours from our destination, we stopped because the wolf-dog and Flow both sensed something out of place and reacted defensively. After a moment, a stone giant emerged from the ground in a hidden position. We tried negotiating with it and apologized for disrupting its sleep. It demanded 500 gold, so we tried to go the diplomatic route and show it our pass from the Emperor. As we approached within 40 ft., it unleashed an assault by throwing a spear. As we all scurried to defend ourselves, several more giants burst out of their hiding places. We retreated back to the wagon and tried to make an escape, but the horse was hit by a boulder and exploded in a gory mess. Using the wagon for cover allowed us to block a couple more boulder shots, but it was eventually destroyed in the battle. Oz healed those who were injured and Yoshi cast an Obscuring Mist to cover our escape. Vechi found an escape route that would get us moving faster toward Melg, so we followed it. We put a little distance between us and the giants and eventually reached a narrow passageway that we could get through, but the giants wouldn't be able to fit. We made our way into this area, but as we escaped into the distance, darkness spread across the passageway. Taye was trailing behind and saw us disappear. As we entered darkness, we stopped for the night.
